Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) is a method for planarizing the surface of substrates in semiconductor processing. CMP material removal occurs typically by simultaneous chemical and mechanical interaction with the substrate. With CMP, a highly planar surface may be obtained, which is very useful for many semiconductor device structures.
One structure used in CMP is a polishing pad. Pads may comprise a variety of materials and are used, sometimes in conjunction with a polishing fluid (slurry) as the CMP interface with the surface of a substrate. In general, polishing pads may be used for CMP or for other polishing methods, including polishing the surfaces of a variety of substrates.